Thomas Jefferson McCall, Associate Professor of Literature and Humanities at the University of Houston-Clear Lake, died suddenly January 25, 2011.  Dr. McCall was born December 18, 1952, in Telluride, Colorado.  The son of George Terry McCall and Joan Alice (Demoisy) McCall, he is survived by Terry Lynn McCall, his sister, and Aaron McCall Zinder, his nephew, both of Portland, Oregon.

Dr. McCall’s many publications in both English and German won him an international reputation. He "combined wide scholarship in Romantic literature and idealist philosophy with a precise knowledge of the classical texts (and languages) so important for the Romantics," recalls Cathy Caruth, the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Comparative Literature at Emory University. "Tom’s understanding of the complexity of the Greek writings at the heart of German poets such as Friedrich Hölderlin provided a truly original vision of the nature of Romantic thought.  His readings of later critics such as Walter Benjamin were brilliant and uniquely informed by the philosophical tradition upon which they drew."  Dr. McCall was fluent in Russian, French, Spanish, Arabic, and, most recently, Nepali.

An inspiring teacher, Dr. McCall’s students remember him for his passionate love of the texts that he taught, his wit, and his modesty. “No chalkboard could hold him,” one student commented, recalling his flair for diagramming explanations of poems and ideas. Others spoke about his guitar-playing for gatherings; he had studied flamenco technique with one of Spain’s masters.

A professor at the University of Houston-Clear Lake since 1991, Dr. McCall also held visiting positions at Cornell University’s Society for the Humanities (1994-5), the Universidad de Valladolid, Spain (1997), and the University of Erfurt, Germany (2003).  He received his PhD in Comparative Literature from Yale University in 1987, his MA from the University of Washington (1978), and his BA from the University of California (Davis) (1975). 

Raised in the West, Dr. McCall was an accomplished trekker and climber.  He died shortly after his return to Houston from Nepal where he had been climbing in the Himalayas for the fifth time. His final ascent was Ama Dablam, a 22,494-foot peak.

A celebration of Dr. McCall’s life will be held Feb. 24, 4-6 p.m. in the Garden Room, Bayou Building, University of Houston-Clear Lake.  For information, call 281-283-3300.

Gifts in memory of Dr. McCall may be made to The Literature Scholarship, University Advancement, University of Houston-Clear Lake, 2700 Bay Area Blvd., Houston, TX, 77058.